The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing.pdf - alexandriaesl

CHAPTER 6
Making a Plan
You've chosen a subject (or had one chosen for you), explored
it, thought about the topics you discovered, gathered information
about them. Now what? Are you ready to begin
writing?
Well, yes. But first you need a plan. Perhaps nothing more
than a loose sense of purpose, held in your mind and never
written down—what jazz musicians call a head arrangement.
Head arrangements can work very well—if you have the right
kind of head and if you're thoroughly familiar with the
subject.
But sometimes all of us (and most times most of us) require
a more tangible plan. One kind is a statement of purpose;
another is a preliminary, scratch outline.
The Statement of Purpose
It's nothing complicated—a paragraph or two broadly describing
what you want to say, how you're going to organize
it, what you want readers to understand, feel, believe. The
paragraphs are written for yourself, to clarify your ideas and
to give you a guide; you don't have to worry about anyone
else's reading them. Even so, you may find on occasion
that composing a statement of purpose is difficult, perhaps